Broadcom brings new Ethernet programmability with open source logical table software

Broadcom is introducing a new approach to Ethernet switch configuration that makes use of open source software to allow network hard vendors, OS vendors and even enterprise network managers to monitor, analyze, and provision switch resources through a standard software interface.

This capability is enabled by a new Software Development Kit Logical Table (SDKLT) for Broadcom switch ASICs that leverages table-based programming, where all the device physical resources such as MAC Address Tables, L3 route tables, TCAMs, etc. are exposed as logical tables. Device-specific information is stored in databases and not embedded in the APIs. Device-specific behavior is managed by logical tables through a small set of APIs. Broadcom said this approach introduces new ways to monitor, analyze and provision switch resources, all through industry standard automation tools. The company is making this logical table programmability available as an open source SDK.

Broadcom's first open source offering of the SDKLT is for BCM56960 Tomahawk switch, which is widely used in data center top-of-rack (TOR) switches. The SDKLT open source code is posted on GitHub. The open source code and the Logical Table APIs are released under Apache 2.0 license. The software is designed for High Availability (HA) including support for Soft Error Recovery, Warmboot, and In Service Upgrades.

“The SDKLT brings a fresh, state-of- the-art software development approach to the broader community of network software developers where they can now fully and directly control and monitor the rich switch feature set optimized for SDN and cloud use cases,” said Ram Velaga, senior vice president and general manager of switching products.

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AT&T open sources its Disaggregated Network OS (dNOS) for white boxes #SDN

AT&T announced plans to open source its Disaggregated Network Operating System project, or dNOS, which is a software framework for white box networking equipment. The project will now be hosted by The Linux Foundation.

AT&T said dNOS makes it easier for software developers, network operators, cloud providers, hardware makers and networking application developers to create new white box products, such as open routers and switches. AT&T sees white hardware as a critical component of its network.

“Our goal with open sourcing the dNOS project is to create a community around an open framework to software-enable industry-standard white box hardware designs, such as those contributed to the Open Compute Project,” said John Medamana, vice president of Packet Optical Network, AT&T. “We’re excited to work with The Linux Foundation to bring this concept to reality. We invite others to join us to build the community and support this effort.”

“The Linux Foundation welcomes the dNOS project to the open source community," said Arpit Joshipura, general manager of Networking, The Linux Foundation. "The dNOS project will help create a network operating system community that will benefit existing Linux Foundation projects like FRRouting and OpenSwitch, and pave the way for future projects to help drive innovation at the lower layers of the network stack.”

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Microsoft posts solid growth in cloud - Azure up 98% yoy

Microsoft reported revenue of $28.9 billion for the quarter ended 31-Dec-2017, up 12% over the same period a year earlier. Operating income was $8.7 billion and increased 10%. The company took a $13.8 billion GAAP charge in the quarter related to the tax reform.

“This quarter’s results speak to the differentiated value we are delivering to customers across our productivity solutions and as the hybrid cloud provider of choice,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Our investments in IoT, data, and AI services across cloud and the edge position us to further accelerate growth.”

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $9.0 billion and increased 25% (up 24% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Office commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 10% (up 10% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 41% (up 41% in constant currency)
• Office consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 12% (up 11% in constant currency) and Office 365 consumer subscribers increased to 29.2 million
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 10% (up 9% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 67% (up 68% in constant currency)
• LinkedIn contributed revenue of $1.3 billion during the quarter with sessions growth of over 20% for the fifth consecutive quarter
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Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $7.8 billion and increased 15% (up 15% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 18% (up 18% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 98% (up 98% in constant currency)
• Enterprise Services revenue increased 5% (up 3% in constant currency) driven by Premier Support Services

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $12.2 billion and increased 2% (up 2% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Windows OEM revenue increased 4% (up 4% in constant currency) driven by OEM Pro revenue growth of 11%
• Windows commercial products and cloud services revenue decreased 4% (down 5% in constant currency) due to the impact of a prior year large deal
• Gaming revenue increased 8% (up 8% in constant currency) driven by Xbox hardware revenue growth from the Xbox One X launch
• Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 15% (up 15% in constant currency) driven by higher revenue per search and search volume

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AT&T posts big Q4 profit from tax windfall

AT&T posted Q4 revenue of $41.7 billion, down slightly from $41.8 billion a year earlier primarily due to declines in legacy wireline services, wireless service revenues and domestic video, which were mostly offset by growth in wireless equipment and International. Fourth-quarter net income attributable to AT&T was $19.0 billion, or $3.08 per diluted share, and reflects the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, compared to $2.4 billion, or $0.39 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

AT&T's full-year 2017 revenues amounted to $160.5 billion versus $163.8 billion in 2016.

The company also confirmed plans to add $1 billion to its CAPEX budget in 2018 as a result of the tax reform legislation.

“The impact of tax reform and regulatory rationalization will be substantial and positive for the U.S. economy and AT&T,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO. “Our FirstNet win and the opt-in by 100 percent of all states and territories will enable us to put the industry’s most robust spectrum assets to work in building a best-in-class nationwide network for public safety and first responders. On the Time Warner front, we look forward to presenting our case in court and closing the deal.”

Highlights for Q4 2017

• 4.1 million total wireless net adds for the fourth quarter, including 2.7 million in U.S., driven by connected devices, postpaid phones and prepaid, and 1.3 million in Mexico.  
• 300,000 total video net adds: 161,000 in U.S. and 139,000 in Latin America
• U.S. wireless results:
• 329,000 postpaid phone net adds
• Added nearly 700,000 branded smartphones to base
• Best-ever fourth-quarter postpaid phone churn of 0.89%
• 95,000 IP broadband net adds; 19,000 total broadband net adds; more than 7 million customer locations passed with fiber
• 161,000 total video net adds; 368,000 DIRECTV NOW net adds to reach nearly 1.2 million DIRECTV NOW subscribers
• International revenues were up 16.0% with strong growth in Mexico wireless and DIRECTV Latin America

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Ericsson to spin off its media businesses and sell 51% stake to One Equity Partners

Following a review of its strategic options, Ericsson will spin off its Media Solutions business as an independent video technology company.

One Equity Partners, a private equity firm with deep expertise in media and telecom investments, will acquire a 51% equity stake in the new company and Ericsson will retain 49% of the shares in the company. Media Solutions employees and contractors, as well as specified assets and liabilities, will transfer to the new company upon closing.


Angel Ruiz will continue to lead Media Solutions as the CEO of the new company.

Highlights of Media Solutions’ business include:

• TV platform used every day by over 18 million pay-TV subscribers in 26 countries and regulatory environments 
• Enabling the delivery of digital media services to over 1bn homes globally 
• Recording 3m video assets daily, with over 200 petabytes of time-shifted video storage deployed 
• More than 100,000 events per second tracked by its combined analytics data warehouse 

Red Bee Media

In addition, Red Bee Media (Ericsson's former Broadcast and Media Services group) will continue to be developed as an independent and focused media services business. Legal separation from Ericsson is underway. Full-year 2017 adjusted operating income for Red Bee Media was SEK -0.3 b. Full year revenues were SEK 2.5 b. Ericsson said cost and efficiency improvements should help improve the business.

Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson, says: “Media Solutions and Red Bee Media are leading providers of media products and services, and with the performance improvements that are currently being implemented, we see future upsides to both businesses. We are confident that the direction we announce today will enable us to create the best long-term value, for both our customers and our shareholders.”

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Amdocs to acquire Vubiquity for video content management

Amdocs agreed to acquire Vubiquity, a Los Angeles-based company that provides professional video content management services, for approximately $224 million in cash.

Vubiquity works with over 600 leading film studios, television networks, and independent producers. It manages a 150,000+ asset library, providing superior quality distribution

Amdocs said Vubiquity's capabilities are of increasing importance to its 350+ communication and media service provider partners.

“This acquisition uniquely positions Amdocs at the center of increased convergence across the content community and video distributors including major OTT providers,” said Eli Gelman, Amdocs President and CEO. “Our joint offerings address the media and entertainment industry’s challenge in balancing the incredible growth of content and the many ways to consume content with making programming easier, faster to deliver and ultimately watch, while also delivering profits.”

“Vubiquity has successfully been connecting content owners and distributors across many diverse platforms and evolving business models at the core of its support to the media community,” said Vubiquity CEO Darcy Antonellis, who will, upon completion of the deal, be joining Amdocs as head of the Amdocs Media Division.

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Ericsson's Q4 sales dropped 12% yoy to

Ericsson's reported sales for Q4 2017 decreased by -12% to SEK 57.2 billion (US$7.26 billion). The figure was down 7% when adjusting for constant currency. Gross margin was 21.8%. Operating income was SEK -19.8 billion (-US$2.51 billion).

Ericsson attributed the weaker performance to lower LTE sales in China.

"During a challenging 2017, we have developed and started to execute on a focused strategy, strengthening our R&D while at the same time introducing robust measures to reduce cost and commercial risk. We have now laid the foundation for achieving our financial targets. The fourth quarter was in line with our overall expectation, with gradual improving performance in Networks and continued significant losses in Digital Services. The result is however far below our long-term ambition," stated Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson.

In its quarterly report, Ericsson noted that it has completed or exited 23 out of 42 under-performing managed service contracts, which should improve profitability.

In terms of market opportunity, Ericsson expects the Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment market to decline by -2% for full-year 2018. Geographically, Ericsson forecasts the Chinese market to continue to decline due to reduced LTE investments, while it sees positive momentum in North America.

Ericsson also announced the appointment of Åsa Tamsons as Senior Vice President and head of Business Area Emerging Business and member of Ericsson’s Executive Team. She joins Ericsson from McKinsey & Company where she has held the position as partner in McKinsey’s Stockholm office.


In addition, Ulf Ewaldsson, currently head of Business Area Digital Services, and Elaine Weidman, currently head of Group Function Sustainability & Public Affairs, will step down. Ewalsson will take on a role as advisor to the CEO, while Weidman-Grunewald has decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities.

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UK's National Research and Education Network to activate 400G with Ciena

Jisc, which operates Janet – the UK’s world-class National Research and Education Network (NREN), is deploying Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform to enable 400G wavelength connectivity -- a world first for an NREN.

“Our vision is for the UK to be at the forefront of scientific research. To make that happen, we must have a highly robust network powered with industry-leading technology that can scale to support bandwidth-intensive applications like genome editing and The Square Kilometre Array,” said Jeremy Sharp, Network Infrastructure Director, Jisc.

“Working with Ciena, the Janet Network was the first NREN to provide 100G for users and, as demand has grown, is now the first to provide 400G. WaveLogic Ai enables us to operate efficiently and accurately engineer the network for optimal capacity to manage massive flows from new data-intensive research activities,” Sharp added.

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Baseline specs complete for 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service

Ten baseline specifications for commercial operations within the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band are now ready to go.

• CBRS Operational and Functional Requirements
• CBRS Communications Security Technical Specification
• CBRS Operational Security Technical Specification
• SAS to CBSD Protocol Specification
• SAS to SAS Protocol Specification
• SAS Test and Certification Specification
• PAL Database Specification 
• CBRS PKI Certificate Policy
• CBSD Test and Certification Specification
• CPI Accreditation Standard

In April 2015, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules for CBRS, which opens 150 MHz of spectrum (3550-3700 MHz) for commercial use — while providing necessary protection of incumbent users of the band. Spectrum access is actively coordinated based on priority and granular location, making previously allocated spectrum available to new entrants and services.

The Wireless Innovation Forum (WInnForum) said this watershed event allows the finalization of CBRS products already in various levels of testing and sets the stage for the rollout of commercial CBRS networks.

Google: "Completion of these standards demonstrates that it is now possible to make major changes in how we approach managing spectrum resources to provide the abundant bandwidth essential to our society,” said Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google parent company Alphabet Inc. “This accomplishment shows that flexible, cloud-based management can enable spectrum to be used for many purposes simultaneously, and relegate the exclusive, command and control vision of spectrum allocation to history."

Nokia: “The CBRS shared spectrum band has been made available in the US, offering 150MHz of spectrum in a continuous block. This spectrum will enable cost effective coverage and capacity expansion at large scale. Completion of detailed specifications of the CBRS Baseline Standards, while working with various contributors from multiple companies, is a monumental milestone achievement,” said Ricky Corker, Executive Vice President, Nokia. “I would like to congratulate all members of the WInnForum in achieving this milestone. CBRS, using a unique 3-tiered shared spectrum approach, promises efficient use of spectrum, and I cannot wait to see the successful rollout in the US.”

Ericsson: “The completion of the CBRS Baseline Standards represents an important milestone for spectrum sharing, unleashing the band’s potential for innovation. Ericsson’s commitment to supplying LTE equipment for the band will ensure strong commercial support for the ecosystem,” said Paul Challoner, VP Network Product Solutions, Ericsson. “The wholehearted cooperation of incumbents, including the DoD, the NTIA, the fixed satellite industry, and the commitment of the FCC to the success of the CBRS is to be acknowledged. Ericsson looks forward to speedy certification of the SAS and ESC and a smooth transition to commercial operation of LTE nationwide in the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band.”

Verizon: “Verizon is pleased to see the WInnForum make timely progress in publishing CBRS protocol and test specifications. These are critical steps in the testing of CBRS SAS systems, ESC systems, and CBSD devices and the eventual deployment of network infrastructure and consumer devices on this highly desirable CBRS spectrum,” says Ed Chan, Chief Technology Architect and Network Planning (NYSE: VZ). He added, “Access to additional wireless spectrum is essential for providers who want to deliver on the promise of next generation technologies. We believe the FCC’s new CBRS shared spectrum approach is an innovative and responsible way to leverage all the available spectrum resources in the U.S. We look forward to offering innovative new products and services in this new shared CBRS spectrum.”

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Verizon to begin large-scale NG-PON2 deployments with Calix

Verizon has selected Calix's AXOS E9-2 Intelligent Edge System to begin large-scale NG-PON2 deployments this quarter. These deployments will include the AXOS RPm (Routing Protocol module for Layer 3) and the AXOS SMm (Subscriber Management module for disaggregated Broadband Network Gateway). Financial terms were not disclosed.

Calix said its NG-PON2 converged services platform enables Verizon to deploy a single access network for residential, business, and mobile services.

“Several years ago, we determined that we were going to need a better network to meet our growing customers’ demands for bandwidth and higher throughput. We saw that the single wavelength systems (e.g., 10G EPON and XGS-PON) were only possible interim solutions and that we needed a longer term solution. NG-PON2 is a platform that will meet the customers’ envisioned needs for the next decade or more given its many evolution paths as well as bringing many operational benefits to simplify the network. It represents a paradigm shift in the design of access networks,” said Vincent O’Byrne, director of technology planning at Verizon. “NG-PON2, allows us to converge our many service networks into a single unified intelligent network, and simplify our operating model by integrating the OLT and subscriber management system.”

 “We also need to drastically shorten the time it takes to deploy new services,” added Lee Hicks, vice-president of technology at Verizon. “The best way to achieve these goals is through leveraging breakthrough technologies like NG-PON2 and the automation of manual functions across the network. Innovative partners like Calix are enabling us to leap frog the competition and consolidate multiple network elements into one platform and automate many of our most critical network functions. We are excited to now begin this transformation, starting in Tampa, Florida and expanding into other markets.”

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Elements of Nokia' Future X network architecture for 5G

Nokia's Future X architecture for 5G, which the company is outlining this week and plans to showcase at next month's Mobile World Congress, will combine high-capacity 5G New Radio access, core networking capabilities, and SDN controlled 'Anyhaul' transport. The new architecture promises up to three times more data capacity per cell site and 30% lower total cost of operation through the artificial intelligence-based automation.

Here are the key elements:

• Nokia 5G New Radio - the radio software, based on the 3GPP 5G New Radio Release 15 standard. 
• Nokia AirScale Radio Access - a modular way to build radio access networks. Nokia plans 20 new products and features with software-upgradeable radios, including ReefShark-based products, and the smallest-ever outdoor AirScale system module.
• Nokia's 5G AirScale active antennas - optimized for mobility support, wide-area coverage, multi-gigabit throughput speeds and millisecond latency. New antenna products include AirScale massive MIMO Adaptive Antennas for 5G and LTE, a portfolio of new 5G ready radio heads, as well as a new dual-band Compact Active Antenna addressing all operator deployment scenarios.
• Nokia's 5G Small Cells -  new 5G outdoor and indoor small cells will be compact and easily deployable and complement the 5G macro network.
• Nokia 5G Anyhaul - the portfolio is enhanced with SDN automation capabilities and products for Microwave, IP Routing, Optical Networking, and Next Gen PON, all supporting the migration of radio access and packet core functions to cloud architectures.
• Nokia 5G Core - Nokia cloud-native packet core supports separated control and user planes and offers both virtualized and new physical deployment capabilities, including platforms built with Nokia's FP4 processor. Nokia's 5G core supports both wireless and fixed technologies. Nokia will also launch 5G registers to enable the management of subscriptions on the 5G network.
• Nokia Massive Scale Access - complements 5G New Radio with fiber, DSL, cable and Wireless PON solutions. The end-to-end access portfolio enables service providers to connect more people sooner, using whichever access technology best suits the use case.
• 5G Acceleration Services -  Bell Labs Consulting in network planning, site evolution, predictive care and virtual operations 

.Nokia's ReefShark silicon cuts massive MIMO antenna size and power consumption

Monday, January 29, 2018  #5G, Nokia, Silicon  No Comments

Nokia unveiled its ReefShark 5G chipsets for radio frequency (RF) units such as the radio used in antennas. The chipsets, which were developed in-house, significantly improve radio performance resulting in halving the size of massive MIMO antennas. Nokia says its ReefShark chipsets also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to current technology.

The ReefShark chipsets comprise:

• ReefShark Digital Front End for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting massive MIMO
• ReefShark RFIC front-end module and transceiver: massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution
• ReefShark Baseband Processor: All-in-one compute heavy design, capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G. This is the brain power of baseband processing.

The ReefShark chipsets for compute capacity are delivered as plug-in units for the commercially available Nokia AirScale baseband module. The new plug-in units triple throughput from 28 Gbps today to up to 84 Gbps per module. Additionally, AirScale baseband module chaining supports base station throughputs of up to 6 terabits per second. Nokia said this level of performance will allow operators to meet the huge growing densification demands and support the massive enhanced mobile broadband needs of people and devices in megacities.

Nokia also announced that it is working with 30 operators using ReefShark and will ramp up field deployments during the third quarter of 2018.

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Red Hat to acquire CoreOS for Kubernetes platform

Red Hat agreed to acquire CoreOS, a developer of Kubernetes and container-native solutions, for $250 million.

CoreOS, which was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco, offers a commercial Kubernetes platform that let's customer build "Google-style" where workloads and applications placed in containers can be moved rapidly across clouds. CoreOS Tectonic is an enterprise-ready Kubernetes platform that provides automated operations, enables portability across private and public cloud providers, and is based on open source software. The company also offers CoreOS Quay, an enterprise-ready container registry. CoreOS is also well-known for being a leading contributor to Kubernetes; Container Linux, a lightweight Linux distribution created and maintained by CoreOS that automates software updates and is streamlined for running containers; etcd, the distributed data store for Kubernetes; and rkt, an application container engine, donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), that helped drive the current Open Container Initiative (OCI) standard.

Red Hat said the deal furthers its vision of enabling customers to build any application and deploy them in any environment with the flexibility afforded by open source.

“The next era of technology is being driven by container-based applications that span multi- and hybrid cloud environments, including physical, virtual, private cloud and public cloud platforms. Kubernetes, containers and Linux are at the heart of this transformation, and, like Red Hat, CoreOS has been a leader in both the upstream open source communities that are fueling these innovations and its work to bring enterprise-grade Kubernetes to customers. We believe this acquisition cements Red Hat as a cornerstone of hybrid cloud and modern app deployments,” stated Paul Cormier, president, Products and Technologies, Red Hat.

• In May 2016, CoreOS received $28 million in Series B funding round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures). Intel Capital participated in the round, as well as existing investors Accel, Fuel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Y Combinator Continuity Fund and others, bringing the company’s funding to date to $48 million.

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Juniper's Q4 sales drop 11% yoy as the company cites deployment delays from cloud customers

Juniper Networks reported net revenues of $1,239.5 million for Q4 2017, a decrease of 11% year-over-year and 1% sequentially, and also announced lowered financial expectations for Q1 2018 due to ongoing deployment delays as large cloud customers continue their architectural transition.  Juniper said it remains confident in its competitive position and strong relationship with these strategic customers.

On the earnings conference call, company execs said the weakness is primarily being driven by the shift to a scale out from scale up architecture, most notably at several of its largest cloud customers.

For Q4 2017, GAAP operating margin was 16.4%, a decrease from 20.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, and a decrease from 18.4% in the third quarter of 2017. Non-GAAP operating margin was 22.7%, a decrease from 26.5% in the fourth quarter of 2016, and a decrease from 23.5% in the third quarter of 2017. GAAP net loss was $148.1 million, a decrease of 178% year-over-year and 189% sequentially, resulting in diluted loss per share of $0.40. GAAP net loss was primarily due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which resulted in an estimated $289.5 million of tax expense.

For full year 2017, Juniper's net revenues were $5,027.2 million, an increase of 1% year-over-year. GAAP operating margin was 16.9%, a decrease from 17.8% in fiscal year 2016. Non-GAAP net income was $809.0 million, flat year-over-year, resulting in diluted earnings per share of $2.11, an increase of 1% year-over-year.

“We continue to lead the way in helping our customers build more automated, cost efficient, scalable networks," said Rami Rahim, chief executive officer, Juniper Networks. "We believe strongly that we have the right product portfolio in place to win in this dynamic market.”

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A10 delays earnings release citing insider trading issue

A10 Networks is postponing its quarterly earnings announcement, originally scheduled for Feb. 8, 2018, due to an internal investigation concerning a violation of its insider trading policy by a mid-level employee within its finance department.

The company said its investigation did not identify matters that require material adjustments to be made, however, attention is now being focused on certain revenue recognition matters from the fourth quarter of 2015 through the fourth quarter of 2017 inclusive. Once the investigation is complete, A10 will schedule a conference call to discuss full financial results for the 2017 fourth quarter and full year.

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WorldStream, an ISP in Holland, deploys Coriant Groove G30 for 100G

WorldStream, a leading Internet Service Provider in the Netherlands, has deployed the Coriant Groove G30 Network Disaggregation Platform to enhance the resiliency of its backbone network and scale transmission capacity to 100G per wavelength.

WorldStream offers a wide variety of ISP and data center hosting services, as well as global connectivity.

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INAP to acquire SingleHop for $132 million

Internap, which provides high-performance internet infrastructure including colocation, managed services and hosting, cloud and high-performance network services, agreed to acquire SingleHop, private company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois for $132 million in cash.

SingleHop is a managed hosting and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider offering automated and on-demand IT infrastructure.

“The INAP turnaround strategy includes restoring top-line organic revenue growth while leveraging smart tuck-in acquisitions to accelerate that growth,” stated Peter D. Aquino, President & CEO of INAP. “Today we announce significant progress on both fronts: We are reporting a positive outlook for 4Q 2017 revenue, which is up sequentially, and we are ahead of turnaround expectations. We are also pleased to announce the signing of an agreement to acquire SingleHop and welcome their customers and employees to the INAP family. We are very excited about partnering with Zak Boca and his experienced team to integrate their advanced platform into INAP. The combined impact of our sales and operational improvements, and the momentum of SingleHop’s success, is expected to be a catalyst for growth in 2018.”

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Nokia's ReefShark silicon cuts massive MIMO antenna size and power consumption

Nokia unveiled its ReefShark 5G chipsets for radio frequency (RF) units such as the radio used in antennas. The chipsets, which were developed in-house, significantly improve radio performance resulting in halving the size of massive MIMO antennas. Nokia says its ReefShark chipsets also reduce power consumption in baseband units by 64%, compared to current technology.

The ReefShark chipsets comprise:

• ReefShark Digital Front End for LTE and 5G radio systems supporting massive MIMO
• ReefShark RFIC front-end module and transceiver: massive MIMO Adaptive Antenna solution
• ReefShark Baseband Processor: All-in-one compute heavy design, capable of supporting the massive scale requirements of 5G. This is the brain power of baseband processing.

The ReefShark chipsets for compute capacity are delivered as plug-in units for the commercially available Nokia AirScale baseband module. The new plug-in units triple throughput from 28 Gbps today to up to 84 Gbps per module. Additionally, AirScale baseband module chaining supports base station throughputs of up to 6 terabits per second. Nokia said this level of performance will allow operators to meet the huge growing densification demands and support the massive enhanced mobile broadband needs of people and devices in megacities.

Nokia also announced that it is working with 30 operators using ReefShark and will ramp up field deployments during the third quarter of 2018.

Henri Tervonen, CTO of Nokia Mobile Networks and head of R&D Foundation said: "With ReefShark, Nokia has created a clear competitive advantage. Its combination of power, intelligence and efficiency make it ideally suited to be at the heart of fast arriving 5G networks."

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Zayo to Acquire Neutral Path for midwest fiber routes

Zayo agreed to acquire Neutral Path Communications, a long haul infrastructure provider operating a fiber network in the Midwest.

The transaction will add 452 owned plus additional leased route miles to Zayo’s extensive North American network, including a unique, high-count fiber route from Minneapolis to Omaha. The assets are highly complementary to Zayo’s Midwestern long haul dark fiber footprint.

The deal was valued at $31.5 million.

Zayo said the acquisition enables it to sell multi-city dark fiber and fiber-based lit solutions from Minneapolis into Omaha, extending to Denver, Kansas City, Tulsa, Dallas, Des Moines, Chicago and other major markets.

“This is another example of executing on our ‘tuck-in’ strategy, acquiring companies that add strategic assets that we can leverage immediately,” said Jack Waters, CTO and president of Fiber Solutions at Zayo. “Based on expressed customer demand, we’re confident we will quickly be able to pursue the robust funnel of sales opportunities and grow the revenue base on these assets.”

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T-Mobile US commits to 100% renewable energy by 2021

T-Mobile US announced a commitment to cover 100% of its energy usage by 2021  with renewable electricity.  The company has joined RE100, a global initiative uniting businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.

To reach this goal, T-Mobile will count every unit of electricity consumed by its network, offices and stores and then source the equivalent amount from wind farms. The company has finalized a contract for 160 MWs from Infinity Renewables’ Solomon Forks Wind Project in Kansas, with power generation slated to begin in early 2019. T-Mobile also has a deal with the Red Dirt Wind Project operated by Enel Green Power in Oklahoma. The Red Dirt Wind Project went online this past December. Combined, the two will generate 320 MWs for T-Mobile, enough to meet an estimated 60% of the Un-carrier’s total energy needs nationwide.

“It’s the Un-carrier way to do the right thing by our customers, and moving to renewable energy is just a natural part of that,” said John Legere, president and CEO at T-Mobile. “And it’s not just the right thing to do – it’s smart business! We expect to cut T-Mobile’s energy costs by around $100 million in the next 15 years thanks to this move. Imagine the awesome things we can do for our customers with that!”

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Aquantia intros automotive Ethernet portfolio- multi-gig over copper

Aquantia, which is known for its multi-gig Ethernet over copper PHY technologies, introduced an automotive networking portfolio and announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to provide Multi-Gig networking support for the NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier and DRIVE Pegasus platforms.

The market for automotive Ethernet could be many times larger than the data center, enterprise and access segments where multi-gig Ethernet-over-copper used today. Future vehicles, especially Level 4/5 autonomous vehicles, will require high-performance onboard networks to connect cameras, sensors, and displays with GPUs and CPUs.

Level 4/5 requirements include multiple high-resolution videos cameras, some of which are expected to be up to 4K60p at 20-bit resolution requiring full 10 Gbps connectivity. The network must be secure and redundant. It must also use reliable and low-cost cabling. For these reasons, Aquantia believes its multi-gig Ethernet over copper technologies are best suited for the task.

Aquantia's AQcelerate Automotive product line includes the following devices, which all support data rates up to 10GbE:

• The AQV107 Multi-Gig PHY
• The AQVC107 PCIe Multi-Gig MAC+PHY Ethernet controller
• The AQVC100 PCIe Multi-Gig controller (MAC only)

“The number one feature for self-driving vehicles is safety,” said Faraj Aalaei, Chairman and CEO of Aquantia Corp. “Vehicle sensors and cameras collect huge amounts of data that need instant processing to allow the vehicle to make critical decisions that ensure the safety of the driver, passengers, and anyone else sharing the road. Moving data between the sensors and the compute nodes within the In-Vehicle Network (IVN) requires Multi-Gig capabilities to deliver a safe and secure driving experience.”

Aquantia confirmed that its new products deliver the 10Gbps Ethernet connectivity for the NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier and DRIVE Pegasus platforms for autonomous vehicles. NVIDIA's DRIVE Xavier processor parses all the information to understand a full 360-degree perception around the vehicle and determine the presence and movement of pedestrians, other vehicles and objects as it plans a safe path forward. The Aquantia Ethernet products communicate the data and decisions back and forth throughout the system at 10Gbps over automotive Ethernet cables.

Earlier this month at CES, Aquantia announced a partnership with Molex, which has developed a 10 Gbps Automotive Ethernet Network solution for connecting Electronic Control Units (ECUs) throughout a vehicle. The Molex Automotive Ethernet solution uses Aquantia's new silicon.

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Crehan: 400GbE to drive most data center Ethernet switch bandwidth by 2022

Expect to see initial shipments of 400 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switches this year and look for exponential growth ahead. The 400 GbE technology will drive the majority of data center Ethernet switch bandwidth by 2022, according to a newly published Data Center Switch Long-Range Forecast Report from Crehan Research Inc.

“Beginning with high-density 100GbE systems, we entered a new era of much faster data center switch upgrades, and that trend is predicted to continue with 400GbE,” said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research.  "With its expected market-leading price per gigabit and no foreseeable shortage of demand for higher-speed networking capacity in cloud data centers, 400GbE should surpass a million ports shipped in less time than it took 100GbE to reach that threshold.” 

In addition to a strong ramp of 400GbE, Crehan’s report predicts that: 

• 400GbE data center switches will offer a bandwidth discount over lower speed switches during the initial year of shipments
• 400GbE adoption will be further bolstered by the arrival of 100G-PAM4 SerDes, likely in the 2020 timeframe, thus reducing the number of lanes required to achieve 400GbE by half – from 8*50 to 4*100 – and further lessening the cost and power of these data center switches
• 100GbE shipments will surpass 40GbE shipments during 2018, just three years after the initial shipments of high-density 100GbE data center switch systems
• The overall market average selling price per port for data center switching will remain relatively stable, driven by the adoption of higher-speed switches 

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New spec released for Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density MSA

The Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density (SFP-DD) Multi Source Agreement (MSA) Group released an updated specification for the SFP-DD pluggable interface. An initial version was released in September 2017. This update (version 1.1) reflects enhancements to the mechanicals and drawings of the high-speed, high-density SFP-DD electrical interface comprising a module and cage/connector system targeting support up to 3.5 W optical modules in an enterprise environment.

The SFP-DD MSA Group was formed last year to foster the development of next-generation SFP form factors used in DAC and AOC cabling, and optical transceivers. The electrical interface is designed to support two lanes that operate up to 25 Gbps NRZ or 56 Gbps PAM4 per lane modulation—providing aggregate bandwidth of 50 Gbps NRZ or 112 Gbps PAM4 with excellent signal integrity.

In combination, an SFP-DD server port and QSFP-DD switch ports can effectively double port density in network applications.

SFP-DD MSA founding members include Alibaba, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell EMC, Finisar, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Lumentum, Mellanox Technologies, Molex, and TE Connectivity.

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Register now for IEEE WIE ILC 2018

You don’t want to miss IEEE WIE ILC 2018 in San Jose, California where leaders from around the world will gather to inspire, engage and advance women in engineering!

Register here: http://bit.ly/2rHPk0j

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MATRIXX raises $40 million for its telco reinvention software

MATRIXX Software, a start-up based in Saratoga, California announced $40 million in Series C funding for its next-gen digital commerce platform for telco and related industries.

MATRIXX Software’s Digital Commerce platform aims to reinvent telco business support systems by bringing together typically separate applications for product design and lifecycle management, customer engagement, service delivery and monetization into a single, comprehensive platform.

The company reports 130 percent year-over-year growth, adding new customers across North America, UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

“We founded MATRIXX on the principles of digital scale and agility. We design software with both the Telco and the end consumer in mind to deliver capabilities that will provide valuable and meaningful change to the way Telco’s operate,” said Dave Labuda, founder, CEO and CTO of MATRIXX Software.

The funding round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures. Additional new investors include Spring Lake Equity Partners and strategic partner CK Hutchison, whose 3 brand group of telecommunications operators serve over 130 million customers globally. The round also includes existing investors and strategic partners Greylock Partners, Adams Street Partners, Telstra Ventures and Swisscom Ventures.

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Proposal to nationalize 5G draws immediate criticism from FCC, CTIA

National Security Council officials in the Trump administration are considering a federal role in building and operating a national 5G network, according to a report by Axios based on a leaked Powerpoint and memo. The idea is to develop a secure, nationwide 5G network at the federal level to stave off security concerns from China. The nationalized infrastructure would then be leased to mobile operators.

The report has drawn immediate criticism across the board.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: "“I oppose any proposal for the federal government to build and operate a nationwide 5G network.  The main lesson to draw from the wireless sector’s development over the past three decades—including American leadership in 4G—is that the market, not government, is best positioned to drive innovation and investment.  What government can and should do is to push spectrum into the commercial marketplace and set rules that encourage the private sector to develop and deploy next-generation infrastructure."

CTIA President and CEO Meredith Attwell Baker: “The wireless industry agrees that winning the race to 5G is a national priority. The government should pursue the free market policies that enabled the U.S. wireless industry to win the race to 4G.”

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Rambus' quarterly sales rise 4% yoy

Rambus reported quarterly revenue of $101.9 million, 4% higher than a year ago, with GAAP diluted net loss per share of $0.29 and non-GAAP diluted net income per share of $0.19. Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $393.1 million, 17% higher than a year ago.

The company also announced changes in its accounting practice regarding the way revenue from licensing its intellectual property will be recognized.

“Rambus has transitioned to focus on two key high-growth markets - the data center and the mobile edge - with a product roadmap that leverages our core competencies and key ingredient technologies to both differentiate and accelerate our position in complementary markets,” said Dr. Ron Black, chief executive officer of Rambus.

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New cables add to transatlantic subsea capacity essential to operators

by James E. Carroll

Much new and needed subsea capacity is going into Atlantic waters this year. This new capacity will be essential to Internet Content Providers, public cloud companies, and mobile operators as they push into 5G.

2018 opened with the unveiling of HAFVRUE (mermaid in Danish), a massive subsea cable project that will link New Jersey to the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark with a branch landing in County Mayo, Ireland. Optional branch extensions to Northern and Southern Norway are also included in the design.

The Mermaid cable has a theoretical design capacity of 108 Tbps, which will make it one of the high-capacity subsea cables ever built. TE Subcom has been signed as the system supplier for HAVFRUE. The construction contract is now in force and the marine survey is underway. A ready-for-service date is promised in Q4 2019 – less than 24 months away. The HAVFRUE subsea cable system will be optimized for coherent transmission and will offer a cross-sectional cable capacity of 108Tbps, scalable to higher capacities utilizing future generation SLTE technology.

What is most interesting about the Mermaid project is the diverse membership of the consortium, especially the inclusion of Facebook, Aqua Comms and Bulk Infrastructure as key members.

Perhaps it's not too surprising to see Facebook on this list, even though they must be one of biggest owners of transatlantic bandwidth at the moment. After all, Facebook, along with Microsoft, is co-owner or the newly commissioned MAREA cable system, which spans 6,600 km from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bilbao, Spain.  The MAREA cable has a record 160 Tbps design capacity using eight fibre pairs.  However, MAREA takes a more southern route than other transatlantic cables, which mostly connect northern Europe to the New York/New Jersey region.  MAREA’s Virginia landing makes a good connection point to Facebook’s 160-acre data centre campus in Forest City, North Carolina.  Perhaps there are plans for a Facebook data centre in southern Europe, given that the company’s current European facilities are all north. The social media giant famously activated its first European data centre in in 2013 in Lulea, a city on the coast of northern Sweden, where the sub-Arctic climate and cheap hydroelectricity were seen as especially advantageous. In January 2016, Facebook selected Clonee (a suburb of Dublin), Ireland as the location for its second data centre in Europe. (Facebook’s international headquarter has been in Ireland since 2009).  One year later, in January 2017, Facebook announced its selection of Odense, Denmark as the location for its third European data centre. The company said Denmark was chosen for its robust Nordic electric grid, access to fiber, access to renewable power, and a great set of collaborative community partners. Renewal energy is expected to account for 100% of electricity needs.

Given these two new data centres in Ireland and Denmark, it makes sense that Facebook would invest in a new transatlantic cable landing in these two countries.

For Aqua Comms, which is a young, subsea cable operator based in Dublin, the new HAVFRUE cable also adds to its growing existing transatlantic portfolio. It was only two years ago, in January 2016, that Aqua Comms’ AEConnect Cable System went into operation. The AEConnect cable spans more than 5,400 km across the Atlantic between Long Island, NY and  Killala, County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland.  Its design capacity is 130 Tbps, or 130 wavelength services at 100Gbps per fibre pair. Aqua Comms’ first cable project was CeltixConnect, a 72-fibre pair subsea cable connecting Ireland and the UK that entered service in January 2012.

With this new HAVFRUE cable, Aqua Comms has been appointed system operator and landing party in the U.S., Ireland, and Denmark. The company plans market and sell capacity services and raw spectrum on its portion of the HAVFRUE cable system under the brand name America Europe Connect-2 (AEC-2).  Aqua Comms will also commission a new cable route to Denmark through the UK, developing CeltixConnect-2, which connects Dublin to Manchester, as well as the North Sea Connect cable that will link Stellium’s data centre in Newcastle, England, to Esbjerg, Denmark.
The new HAVFRUE cable not only adds capacity for Aqua Comms, it also enables the company to create a resilient, ring-based infrastructure between the East Coast of the U.S., Ireland, and Northern Europe that is especially attuned to hyperscale cloud companies needing dozens of 100G transatlantic circuits in the years ahead.

A subsea alliance for Europe to South America

In the south Atlantic, Seaborne Networks has been building a new generation of subsea cables. In September 2017, Seaborn activated its Seabras-1 direct subsea system between New York and São Paulo while bypassing the hurricane-prone areas of Florida, the Caribbean and Bermuda.. The new Seabras-1 submarine cable, which spans 10,600-km,, has multiple branching units and is designed to provide additional route diversity to Virginia Beach, Miami, St. Croix, Fortaleza, and Rio de Janeiro. Seaborne is planning a new direct subsea system between Brazil - Argentina (RFS Q4 2018); and SABR, a new subsea system between Cape Town, South Africa and Seabras-1 (RFS 2019).

Interestingly, Seaborn and Aqua Comms have just announced a strategic alliance to provide subsea connectivity between South America and Europe.  This looks to integrate Seaborn’s Seabras-1 subsea cable system now directly interconnects with Aqua Comms’ America-Europe Connect (AEConnect) subsea cable network. The two submarine cable systems will interconnect in Secaucus, New Jersey, in the location of Seaborn’s primary network operations centre.

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SES preps four MEO satellites for March launch

SES confirmed that four new O3b satellites have arrived safely at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for launch by a Soyuz vehicle in March 2018.

The new satellites, which will be placed into orbit at a distance of 8,000km, will augment SES’s fleet of 12 O3b satellites.  The new satellites were built by Thales Alenia Space and will enable SES Networks to offer more capacity, enhanced coverage, increased efficiencies and greater reliability while delivering carrier-grade services including MEF Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certified services, to telcos, mobile network operators (MNOs), enterprises, internet service providers (ISPs) and government customers.

Steve Collar, Chief Executive Officer at SES Networks, said, ““The uptake of our O3b fleet and capability has been breathtaking. From being the fastest growing operator in 2015 to our customers demanding for more O3b services today, we are now approaching peak capacity across a number of regions. As the only operational low-latency, broadband constellation in the world, we are developing our network aggressively to deliver cloud scale connectivity and solutions. Our managed end-to-end network services are comparable with terrestrial networks, empowering our customers to offer high-performance connectivity on a truly global scale.”

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Cisco delivers OC-192 Circuit Emulation to Verizon

Verizon is currently carrying customer traffic on part of its transport network using a new highly scalable circuit emulation solution from Cisco that supports speeds up to OC-192. Previous circuit emulation equipment carried speeds up to OC-12.

Circuit emulation enables transport of conventional digital and optical signal rates over a packet-based MPLS network without impacting customer traffic -- creating a smooth migration of legacy services to next-generation infrastructure and improving overall reliability.

As part of its next-generation 100G U.S. metro network rollout, Verizon initially deployed this technology where it could aggregate multiple Ethernet and TDM circuits at the same location onto a unified high-speed circuit.

“This is a true architectural collaboration with Verizon. We have worked hard to deliver this unique solution that will easily enable the growth of Ethernet services while improving the reliability of mission critical TDM private line services,” said Bill Gartner, vice president, optical systems and optics, Service Provider Business, Cisco.

Verizon Picks Cisco and Ciena for Advanced 100G Metro Network

Tuesday, March 24, 2015  Ciena, Cisco, Metro, Verizon  No Comments

Verizon has selected Ciena and Cisco as vendors for its next generation metro optical network.

Specifically, Verizon will test and deploy Ciena’s metro-optimized 6500 packet optical technology and the Cisco Network Convergence System on portions of its 100G metro network this year, with plans to turn up live traffic in 2016. Supplier volumes will be guided by ongoing testing, support and performance.

“Deploying a new coherent, optimized and highly scalable metro network means Verizon stays ahead of the growth trajectory while providing an even more robust network infrastructure for future demand,” said Lee Hicks, vice president of Verizon network planning. “Ciena and Cisco met not only our technology requirements but the aggressive timeline to deploy our next-generation 100G-and-above metro network.”

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Hulu moves to Switch data center for 100% green power

Hulu is moving from its existing data centers to a new colocation facility in Las Vegas operated by Switch, one of the largest renewable energy-powered data center providers.

The new, 100 percent renewable energy facility spans 2.4 million square feet across 12 buildings. A posting on Hulu's tech blog said the new facility provides better reliance to natural disasters and ensures a greener and more sustainable system for streaming content to its millions of viewers.

The company also noted that its Live TV service operates on the Amazon Web Services platform. The Switch data center also provides a stable, direct connection into AWS.

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Reliance Comm to self-finance its Eagle subsea cable system

Reliance Communications has stated that its plans to self-finance its recently-announced, state-of-the-art express cable network which will extend from India via Thailand to Hong Kong and from India across the Middle East to Italy. The vision is to create a Next-Generation IP and Cloud environment across the emerging markets corridor that encompasses the Middle East into Europe, as well as the large economies of China, India and Indonesia.

The Eagle cable system, targeted for completion by the end of 2020, will be four/six fiber pair systems, with an initial design capacity of 12-24Tbps per fiber pair, using Next-Generation Coherent Submarine Fiber.

Reliance Comm's Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) has also entered into key partnerships to expand its Cloud ecosystem and data center footprint, further solidifying India’s position as a key global hub with a strategic edge in the next wave of technology growth and expansion across emerging markets.

GCX owns the world’s largest private undersea cable system spanning more than 67,000 route km which, seamlessly integrated with Reliance Communications’ 200,000 route km of domestic optic fiber backbone, provides a robust Global Service Delivery Platform.

“The Cloud and Fiber initiative is our response to the key requirements in the global marketplace, driven by the explosive growth in Cloud and infrastructure programs by enterprises around the world,” said Bill Barney, CEO of Reliance Communications & Chairman/CEO, Global Cloud Xchange. “Nearly half of the world’s population is reachable with a short distance from India’s borders, giving the country a strategic edge in the new Digital Era. This initiative levels the playing field for India’s companies to compete globally.”

Earlier this month, Reliance Jio Infocomm, the fastest growing mobile operator in the world and which is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, agreed to acquire specified assets of Reliance Communications Limited and its affiliates.

The sale includes assets under four categories – Towers, Optic Fiber Cable Network, Spectrum and Media Convergence Nodes, specifically:

• 122.4 MHz of 4G Spectrum in the 800/900/1800/2100 MHz bands 
• Over 43,000 towers, amongst the top 3 independent tower holdings in India 
• ~ 1,78,000 RKM of fiber with pan India footprint 
• 248 Media Convergence Nodes, covering ~5 Million sqft used for hosting telecom infrastructure

The deal was valued at US$$3.77 billion, according to media reports

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University of Guam lights 100G GOREX

The University of Guam is now connected to the global Research and Education Network fabric at 100G.

The GOREX network—or Guam Open Research & Education eXchange—connects Guam to Hawaii and California via the new SEA-U.S. fibre-optic submarine cable.

The Marine Laboratory and the Water Environmental Research Institute at the university are two of the academic groups expected to benefit the most from GOREX at the onset, although UOG president Robert Underwood believes the true impact to the island community is in the opportunity for data access, exchange, and analysis in other fields such as healthcare, economics, and the social sciences.

“We can now conduct research at complex levels, not just for the sciences, but in other fields as well,” said Underwood. “Think about the issues that we discuss as a society and how we make many decisions with limited data. GOREX gives our students and faculty the tools to truly exchange and analyze large amounts of data in any number of fields with other institutions all over the world. And as a university, it is our responsibility to report our findings back to the community. That’s the impact.”

https://gorex.uog.edu/

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Mitsubishi Electric develops autonomous for smart appliances

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed an autonomous platform that enables networked smart appliances without the need for cloud computing or internet connection.

The platform, which leverages a lightweight software library that requires memory space of just around three megabytes and which can be run even on low-spec microcontrollers, is expected to facilitate a wide variety of cooperative smart appliances and related services.  Mitsubishi is aiming for commercialization of the platform by 2020. Several patents are pending.

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Cavium cites momentum for FastLinQ 10/25GbE Ethernet NICs

Cavium cited market momentum for its family of FastLinQ 10/25GbE Ethernet NICs, which are now powering HyperConverged Infrastructure (HCI) solutions from Microsoft Windows Storage Spaces Direct, VMware vSAN, and HPE SimpliVity.

The company says it has shipped millions of Ethernet ports in its FastLinQ 10/25GbE family.

“Cavium FastLinQ 10/25GbE Ethernet NICs with Universal RDMA are designed to accelerate networking for HyperConverged Systems while offloading server CPU,” said Christopher Moezzi, Vice President of Marketing, Ethernet Adapter Group, Cavium. “Customers deploying a wide range of HCI options from HPE, VMware and Microsoft can now leverage Cavium NICs to enable scale and flexibility to implement radical infrastructure simplification while reducing cost with 10GBASE-T.”

Cavium unveils FastLinQ 41000 10/25/40/50 GBE NIC

Thursday, June 29, 2017  Cavium, NIC, Silicon  No Comments

Cavium announced the introduction of the FastLinQ 41000 Series products, its low power, second-generation 10/25/40/50 Gigabit Ethernet NIC that is claimed to be the only such adapter to feature Universal RDMA.

Cavium's FastLinQ 41000 Series devices are designed to deliver advanced networking for cloud and telco architectures; the products are available immediately from Cavium and shortly due to be available from Tier-1 OEMs/ODMs in standard, mezzanine, LOM and OCP form factors.

The FastLinQ QL41000 family of standards-compliant 25/50 Gigabit Ethernet NICs offer support for concurrent RoCE, RoCEv2 and iWARP - Universal RDMA. The FastLinQ adapters, coupled with server and networking platforms, are designed to enable enterprise data centres to optimise infrastructure costs and increase virtual machine density leveraging technologies such as concurrent SR-IOV and NIC Partitioning (NPAR) that provide acceleration and QoS for tenant workloads and infrastructure traffic.

The new FastLinQ adapters also support network function virtualisation with enhanced small packet performance via integration into DPDK and OpenStack, enabling cloud and telcos/NFV customers to deploy, manage and accelerate demanding artificial intelligence, big data, CDN and machine learning workloads.

For telco and NFV applications, the products provide improved small packet performance with line rate packets per second for 10/25 Gigabit Ethernet, MPLSoUDP offload and integration with DPDK and OpenStack using the Mirantis FUEL plug-in. This allows telco's and NFV application vendors to deploy, manage and accelerate demanding NFV workloads.

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